We know homeschooling is good for your children- their morals, their academics, their physical and emotional development, but are you aware of the unique benefits of homeschooling to YOUR health and welfare? No? Well, then read on, mama! Here are eight ways homeschooling your children makes you healthier and happier. Enjoy.

1. Homeschooling moms can eat healthier.

Homeschool moms are not packing school lunches, trying to figure out what nutritious snack will stay fresh for four hours in a lunch box with just an ice pack, and then scrounging at lunch time for herself, eating whatever is there because she doesn’t want to take the time to fix food for just one person. She can’t zip off to the fast food store easily either at noon, unless she wants to put coats and shoes on all her little people and worry about the post-eating mess in the van.

Homeschool moms often open up their fridges and warm up healthy leftovers from the night before, or spend a few minutes chopping up fresh vegetables for quick, vitamin-laden salads for everyone. She can boil a couple eggs or warm up frozen creamed spinach if she wants. If moms plan ahead, they can even pre-make a whole week full of lunches and put them in the freezer for easy defrosting and eating, whether lunch is at 11 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. Homeschool moms generally are very conscientious about what goes into their children’s bodies. When they go out of their way to make a nutritious and delicious meal for their children, they are more likely to eat healthy foods themselves. Bon apetit!

2. Homeschooling moms can get the sleep they need

Homeschooling moms can get all the sleep they need. Homeschooling moms can take mid-day naps, or sleep later, or get to bed earlier than their non-homeschooling counterparts. They don’t have to stay up until midnight encouraging a child with an early morning project due. They don’t have to drag sleepy children out of bed to get them fed and ready for a 7:00 a.m. bus. They can go with the flow and work with their child’s and their individual sleep needs.

Studies show sleep is more necessary than originally thought.* While many homeschool moms DO get up early to get a head start on their day, they don’t HAVE TO. They are not outside-the-family-activity driven. They control their family’s time and commitments and are free to rest with the littles when they need or want. Homeschool moms have more control over their families’ schedules than do moms of children in brick and mortar schools. They can more easily adjust sleep schedules for their children and themselves than other moms.

3. Homeschooling makes mom teachers smarter.

No matter how prepared you are for homeschooling, there is always something you don’t know that your child must learn or wants to learn. This is what homeschooling moms say. Maybe it’s Latin she is learning along side her kids. Perhaps it’s the Kreb Cycle or other biological or chemical concept. Regardless, every homeschool mom attests that she is always learning something new on account of her children, and constantly must be on her toes. While this quick thinking can be challenging on some days, it is definitely a homeschooling mom’s benefit over time.

After all, they are constantly chasing students down to pull them back to their work. Just kidding. Seriously, homeschool moms report they often spend time doing physical activity with their children- biking on sunny days, hiking, exploring the neighborhood. This is often part of the actual school day as many homeschool moms embrace ‘hands-on’ learning- going to the park, finding geological specimens (ie: rocks), are integrated with the curriculum. What’s more, to homeschool, moms must develop self-discipline. This often spills over into all areas of her life, where she finds time to be physically active with her children. Many homeschooling group social activities revolve around physical fun- roller skating, soccer in the park, and other sports. Some homeschooling moms even sign up for Pilates or aerobic class with their teenaged daughters as part of their physical education. The flexibility of homeschooling allows for mom to be physically fit, if she chooses to integrate activity into the family’s school day.

6. Homeschooling families are in more control and therefore may encounter less stress.

Sure, there is stress involved in finding curriculum, organizing a school day, and teaching a child from day to day and year to year, and dealing with state regulations all while running a home. But most of this stress is self-moderated by homeschooling parents. It is not (except for the state regulations) imposed by outside sources. The power in a homeschooling family is with the family. The family decides the schedule, the subjects, what’s best for the child. There is no worry about negative outside influences from teachers or administrators or peers. The parents are the teachers and administrators, and they can carefully watch over peer influence and interaction on a consistent, daily basis. The deadlines generally are those determined by the family, not by a school corporation, or five different teachers or a particular school.

Homeschooling is like bringing a magnifying glass into a marriage. If there are problems in the marriage before embarking on homeschooling, they will loom bigger after one begins. If there is already strength and happiness in a marriage before homeschooling, that will grow too afterwards. The key is to build on a strong base and increase blessings exponentially, thus contributing to overall well being and health. Homeschooling can make a marriage stronger because a couple must discuss many issues and topics before and during homeschooling. Navigating these topics well can lead to better marriages and thus better health.

Homeschooling parents must interact more than non-homeschooling parents to discuss in depth their general and specific plans for educating their children (Should we use boxed curriculum? Will we homeschool one year or 12? What subjects are important? How will we integrate athletics into our children’s lives? Logistically in our home how will this work? Etc. etc.) Homeschooling parents will face unique challenges (Perhaps the in-laws will object vehemently for example and that must be addressed by the couple, or maybe the couple must discuss the layout of the house for the accumulation of books, or there might be daily problems with one particular subject…). Homeschooling parents must work together. They must communicate. Choosing to homeschool is choosing to delve deeper into a marriage, where a couple’s relationship can be strengthened and blossom in ways otherwise not capable.

8. Homeschool moms find their own passions as they seek to develop their children’s

Homeschooling moms often find interests of their own while igniting the passions of their children. When a child is immersed in writing- poetry or short stories, mother might find she wants to create them right with her child. She might decide to submit her work in a contest as she encourages her child to submit his. As a homeschooling mother teaches her daughter the basics of sewing, she might be inspired to create something elaborate of her own, or upcycle some used clothing she has in a closet. In short, homeschooling makes mothers think outside the box, and her child may not be the only one who benefits from mom teaching- mom often finds her own passions while teaching her children. She is a life-long learner and while others her age may be suffering career burnout, a homeschool mom often develops a deeper passion for life!

What are the health and life benefits YOU have experienced on account of homeschooling? I am sure there are more than these eight! Here is a collection of thoughts from other moms.

“The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In those days a boy on the classical side officially did almost nothing but classics. I think this was wise; the greatest service we can to education today is to teach few subjects. No one has time to do more than a very few things well before he is twenty, and when we force a boy to be a mediocrity in a dozen subjects we destroy his standards, perhaps for life.”
C.S. Lewis

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Thoreau

“[Homeschooling]…recipe for genius: More of family and less of school, more of parents and less of peers, more creative freedom and less formal lessons.” Raymond S. Moore

“When one teaches, two learn.” Robert Heinlein

“There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” Gandhi

“I suppose it is because nearly all children go to school nowadays and have things arranged for them that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas.” Agatha Christie

“School is the advertising agency which makes you believe that you need the society as it is.” Ivan Illich

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” William Butler Yeats’

“I don’t blame the big schools for the approach that they take. With thirty two kids in a room, it is impossible to cater education toward each child. Children do have to wait because there are a lot of children to wait for. It is necessary to provide tight order and structure or chaos would take over. It is important to start school at an early hour with a full seven hour day in order to fulfill state requirements..For some kids ‘school’ [might be] the best place. But for our family, it is not.” Nikki Schaefer

“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be a sort of amusement; you will then be better able to discover the child’s natural bent.” Plato

“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” Robert Frost

“Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.” Edward Everett

“Education is the movement from darkness to light.” Allan Bloom

“Self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child’s nature.” Charlotte Mason

“Do not let the endless succession of small things crowd great ideals out of sight and out of mind.” – Charlotte Mason

“What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children’s growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools, but that it isn’t a school at all.” John Holt

“We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way.” John Holt

“It is the duty of a citizen in a free country not to fit into society, but to make society.” John Holt

“Children may be more capable of competent self-directed learning than we give them credit for…” John Holt

“The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” John Holt

“Children are, by nature and from birth, very curious about the world around them, and very energetic, resourceful and competent in exploring it, finding out about it, and master it. In short, much more eager to learn, and much better at learning than most adults.” John Holt

“People always understood, sensibly enough, that before you could teach something you had to know it yourself. But only very recently did human beings get the extraordinary notion that in order to be able to teach what you knew you had to spend years being taught how to teach…” John Holt

“The beauty of home education is that it gives a family more time together–time to solidify relationships, to communicate values, and to focus on each child’s individual needs in a consistent and unhurried atmosphere.” Kimberly Hahn & Mary Hasson

“Teaching is a function, not a profession. Anything with something to offer can teach.” John Taylor Gatto

“…you either write your own script or you become an actor in someone else’s…” John Taylor Gatto

“If you put fleas in a shallow container they jump out. But if you put a lid on the container for just a short time, they hit the lid trying to escape and learn quickly not to jump so high. They give up their quest for freedom. After the lid is removed, the fleas remain imprisond by their own self policing. So it is with life. Most of us let our own fears or the impositions of others imprison us in a world of low expectations.” John Taylor Gatto

“An eternal question about children is, how should we educate them? Politicians and educators consider more school days in a year, more science and math, the use of computers and other technology in the classroom, more exams and tests, more certification for teachers, and less money for art. All of these responses come from the place where we want to make the child into the best adult possible, not in the ancient Greek sense of virtuous and wise, but in the sense of one who is an efficient part of the machinery of society. But on all these counts, soul is neglected.” – Thomas Moore

“All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.” Walter Scott

“Homeschooled children benefit the community because they are not shaped by peers but by parents.” Mary Kay Clark

“We parents need to have confidence in ourselves, confidence in the graces which God gave us, and confidence from our own life experiences and knowledge. We can know and must demand what is best for our children.” Mary Kay Clark

“[Parental] authority must be tempered…with loving kindness and patient encouragement. To temper authority with kindness is to triumph in the struggle which belongs to your duty as parents…All those who would advantageously rule over others, must as an essential element, first dominate themselves, their passions, their impressions…” Pius XII

“Don’t worry about socialization. Wherever people congregate, there is going to be interaction, socialization.” Where is it written that it needs to be in schools? Mary Kay Clark

“In reading the lives of the saints, I cannot recall a single saint who benefited by going along with the crowd.” Mary Kay Clark

“Do not let phone calls and other people..keep you from fulfilling your own priorities with your own children. Too many mothers spend so much time helping others that their own children suffer. Charity DOES begin at home.” Mary Kay Clark

“I really didn’t consider it proper for my child to spend a year of her life learning how to be an eleven year old, then another year of her life learning how to be a twelve year old….(etc.). She has a mother at home. I’d rather she learn to be like her mother, and have plenty of time to do it.” Damian Fedoryka

“[Children] need more work with you (the parents), fewer toys, more service for others, less sports and amusements (which tend to put self before others), more self control, patriotism, productiveness and responsibility. In short, they need guidance along the path to self-worth as children of God. Parents and home, undiluted, usually do these things best.” Dorothy and Raymond Moore

“Wherever possible, home is by far the best nest until at least eight, ten or twelve. Psychologists and psychiatrists who understand child development would prefer an even later age. In a reasonably warm home, parent-child responses, the true ABC’s of sound education, are likely to be a hundred times more frequent than the average teacher-child responses in a classroom.” Raymond and Dorothy Moore

“The first education should be the harmonious development of the child’s physical, mental and spiritual powers. Providing warm and understanding responses to your children’s ‘hearts’ accomplishes far more than pressuring book knowledge into their minds. ” Raymond and Dorothy Moore

“Nobody rises to low expectations.” – Calvin Lloyd

“Unless education promotes character making, unless it helps men to be more moral, more just to their fellows, more law abiding, more discriminatingly patriotic and public spirited, it is not worth the trouble taken to furnish it.” – William Howard Taft

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom

“It’s true there is just not enough hours in a day to teach children, clean the house and cook well. The difference between me and other mothers is that I’d rather hire out the cleaning than the children’s learning.” Theresa Thomas

“The same ones who brought the children physically in the world have the natural obligation binding in the natural law to provide for the mental, moral and social upbringing of their offspring. ” Fr. John Hardon

“You must pray…without prayer, all the schooling in the world will not produce the effect God wants homeschooling to give.” Fr. John Hardon

“The first real lesson I learned as a homeschool teacher is that … it’s the students that lead the way.” Patti Armstrong

“The ultimate quality of your life is not in your resume, but in the minds and hearts of those you mean something to because you gave yourself to them.” Dr. Laura Schlessinger

“…home-schooled students are able to successfully adapt emotionally, interpersonally, and academically to their first, and most challenging, semester in college. That is probably because, having had the consistent teaching and support of a family and a community, they have developed strengths and convictions that provide a bridge over the troubled waters of a multitude of challenges and temptations.” Dr. Laura Schlessinger

“God helps those who work, not those who are idle. No one helps an inactive person, but one who joins in the labor. The good God himself will bring…work to perfection.” St. John Chrysostom

“Nothing is so contagious as example.” La Rochefoucauld

“Go forth and help him fly a kite or build a snow castle. Those shoulders are too little to carry a burden, that brow is too young to be wrinkled, those feet are too lively to be stilled to a funeral’s pace.” Charles Doyle

Our entire school system is based on the notion of passive students that must be “taught” if they are to learn. . . . Our country spends tens of billions of dollars each year not just giving students a second-rate education, but at the same time actively preventing them from getting an education on their own. And I’m angry at how school produces submissive students with battered egos. Most students have no idea of the true joys of learning, and of how much they can actually achieve on their own. –Adam Robinson

“Unless a man’s will has a purpose and it is a good one, education will do nothing for him except to fortify his own egotism.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery– the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the “material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones.” Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them.”(The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2223)

“Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

“It is the child who makes the man, and no man exists who was not made by the child he once was.” Maria Montessori

“The child should live in an environment of beauty.” Maria Montessori

” You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden” Matthew 5:14

Here are a few thoughts and tips to help you overcome your doubts and launch into the amazing, one-of-a-kind experience known as homeschooling:

1- You are doing the BEST thing ever for your family! If you feel called to homeschool, want to homeschool, and are committed to homeschool, you can be successful. Your family will flourish. You will reap benefits you never knew were out there.

2- Homeschooling is not always going to be easy but will 100 percent be worth it!

5- When you make a mistake (at some point you will- we all do) don’t over fret. Just make adjustments/corrections and move forward. One of the great benefits of homeschooling is adjusting as you go, and tailoring your curriculum and method to the individual child.

6- Remember that even the best, most experienced teacher does not know your child nor love your child like you do. This is a huge advantage you have and will buoy you through the biggest challenges.

7- Academic success and excellence is often the result of homeschooling, but remember the higher goals- to help your child develop character and integrity, and to know, love and serve the Lord.

8- Pray for guidance and ask your husband for his ideas and suggestions too. Dads have different perspectives than moms, and he may have an insight you do not.

9- Find a real life mentor mom, a real Titus 2 * woman. Her wisdom will help you through any rough spots or uncertainties.

10- YOU CAN DO IT! If you need help specifically with discernment or curriculum, click here.

Homeschooling just might be one of the best decisions of your life. It was for me!

God bless-

Theresa

*Titus 2: 3: “…older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, so that they may train younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers, under the control of their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.”

Conveying the right idea is all in the word selection isn’t it? Here are a few comments homeschooling moms might hear from their husbands, and a little advice to dads as to how to “improve” their words. This is written tongue-in-cheek of course, with a little bit of truth thrown in ….. If even one of these makes you smile it will make me happy-

Upon walking through the door after work and seeing an erupting volcano on the kitchen cupboard a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Well, that doesn’t look like dinner.”

BETTER CHOICE: “Wow, a volcano. Cool. Hey, who wants to help me with dinner?”

BEST CHOICE: “Awesome project, guys! Your mom really outdid herself on this one. Let’s go to the library to get a video on volcanoes then we’ll take your teacher out to dinner!”

Upon stepping over Legos in the shape of DNA a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “This house is a mess. You know, somebody’s going to trip.”

BETTER CHOICE: “Hey! I found some DNA. Ha ha. Get me the box and I’ll put it away!”

BEST CHOICE: (Turning to wife) “You think of the best projects for our kids and I’m sure you could use some cleaning help. Let’s get a weekly cleaning service so you can concentrate on the kids’ education!”

A husband and wife’s eyes meet after a long day. A husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “You know, you’d look so pretty with a little make up”

BETTER CHOICE: (Handing his wife a tube of rose colored lipstick) “I saw this in the drugstore. It reminded me of your pretty lips and I remembered you like this shade.”

BEST CHOICE: “I love seeing your face in the candlelight. Let’s go out for dinner.”

A husband is quizzing his child on the state capitals. The husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Honey, he missed one! He missed Delaware!”

BETTER CHOICE: (turning to child) “You got 49 out of 50. Good job! We won’t tell Mom you missed Delaware. You’ll get it next time.”

BEST CHOICE: “Delaware, Schmelaware. Who cares? It’s a small state. Let’s take Mom out to dinner!”

On Saturday morning, a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: (rushing out the door) “My tee time’s at 8. I’ll see you sometime late this afternoon!”

BETTER CHOICE: “Okay.” (sigh) “Where’s the list?”

BEST CHOICE: “Honey, I’m going to clean out the garage, mow the lawn and take care of the miscellaneous fix up projects you wanted me to do. I’ll keep the little ones with me. Why don’t you go work on lesson plans or take a little break today? We can switch next weekend.”

Looking at a computer generated library print-out left on the cupboard, a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “32 books!? How can you have fines on 32 books? Who even reads 32 books?”

BETTER CHOICE: “Well, at least the kids are learning something.”

BEST CHOICE: “You actually saved us money! Do you know how much it would cost to BUY 32 books? I’m so glad the kids are reading so much!”

At 10 PM a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Goodnight.”

BETTER CHOICE: “Wow, you’re so diligent, staying up to go over the kids’ worksheets. Atta girl! I’ll make some popcorn!”

BEST CHOICE: “Scoot over. I’ll help you grade.”

Sunday morning before Mass a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “I’ll be in the car. Bring the kids when you’re ready.”

BETTER CHOICE: “If you want me to dress them, show me what you want them to wear.”

BEST CHOICE: “I’ve got the church books and the diaper bag, and the kids are in the car. I know you just were able to change only a minute ago. No rush- Come out when you’re ready.”

At ‘that time of the month’ a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Didn’t you already have chocolate this morning?”

BETTER CHOICE: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

BEST CHOICE: “I’ll get you those Hershey Kisses stashed behind the bread, and hey, you look great in those sweatpants!”

At an ordinary meal a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Meatloaf, vegetables and a fruit bowl … again?”

BETTER CHOICE: “Hmmmm. A balanced, nutritious meal.”

BEST CHOICE: “Wow, you are amazingly creative with our meals considering the modest allowance you have for groceries and the fact you have little time because you do such a great job homeschooling our children. And I love the fresh flowers on the table. Nice touch!”

After receiving standardized test results of the kids, a husband:

MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO SAY: “Well, I should hope they’d do well!”

BETTER CHOICE: “Good job!”

BEST CHOICE: “(turning to wife) “Honey, these are splendid. The kids did great! With a mother like you it is clear to see that the children are going to be both beautiful and brilliant!”

From Stories for the Homeschool Heart (2010) by Theresa Thomas and Patti Armstrong

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